


This Was Doomed From the Start

by OnceAndFloral



Category: Be More Chill - Iconis/Tracz
Genre: Curses, Dustin and Mads are the Brotp, I'm sorry it fits their backstories, I'm using the last name I gave Madeline until other people do too, Jeremy's a prince, Long Journeys, Medieval AU, Michael Jake and Rich are knights, Multi, Ooc Jeremy and Jake that slowly become in character, Pining, Slow Burn, Witches, boys fighting over maps, specifically gay witches, that's p neat, they're not in the first chapter, unfortunately the girls come in later
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-08
Updated: 2017-09-12
Packaged: 2018-11-29 05:32:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,216
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11434188
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OnceAndFloral/pseuds/OnceAndFloral
Summary: There's a curse on the kingdom and the only way to break it is by giving up the prince. So obviously the best way to fix this is to gather the three best nights in the kingdom.There's absolutely no way this could become emotionally complicated.





	1. Certain Death

Michael cursed under his breath. Well, way to go Mell. Be late to direct summons from the king. Even if he wasn’t technically supposed to be him. Whatever, that was beside the point. The point was he was fucking _late_.

He stumbled through the halls of the castle to reach the throne room. This place was absolutely huge. A lot more different from the simple cottage he and his family shared. Or used to share. Holy fuck, Michael was lost as shit. How big a building actually _get_.

He nearly jumped out of his shoes when someone tapped his shoulder. “Whoa! Sorry there!” Michael spun around to see a short man in leather armor standing behind him, hands now raised as to appear non-threatening. The left side of his neck was covered in burns. “You look lost and I’m kind of assuming you’re on the way to the throne room.”

“What… What makes you think that?”

“Uh… they let you into the palace with a spear strapped to your back?”

“Oh.” Michael shifted around awkwardly, shouldering his brother’s old weapon. “I’m guessing you know where the throne room is?”

“No clue, but my new acquaintance does.” He said as someone ran up behind him.

“Rich, you need to stop running off like this. First it was some pretty girl in the kitchens, then it was some guy who caught your fancy or whatever and…” The new guy stopped, looking Michael up and down. “It’s another guy.”

“Calm down.” The guy who Michael now knew as Rich huffed. “We met like an hour ago, you don’t have to be my mom. Also, I saw this guy and recognized him as the other knight being summoned and he looked lost, so really I’m just being a nice person.”

Michael’s eyes were wide. He recognized this other guy. “You’re…”

“Yea, yea, I’m Jake, that dude who saved everyone’s ass multiple times. Nice to meet you too.”

Rich made a frustrated noise. “How come everyone knows about you and not me? I’ve killed fucking dragons!”

“It’s the hair.”

“Wait, really?”

“No, dipshit, it’s me single-handedly fighting off legions of monsters multiple times.”

“...That’s fair.”

Michael knew he was going to feel out of place but this was… a bit much. Merely _standing_ next to a dragonslayer and the most famous knight in the entire kingdom was intimidating, and he was supposed to be going on a special mission with them? Yea, this was a great idea.

“Alright, we’re all already late so let’s just get to the throne room before we’re in any more trouble.” Jake sighed, already walking down the hall. Rich threw Michael a wink before jogging after him, leaving the other man to scramble to keep up with them.

With Jake in the lead, it only took a few minutes to reach the cavernous room. Which was good because Michael didn’t want to be wandering around for another five hours. Inside the king sat on the throne, looking awfully agitated with his son, Jeremy, standing quietly at his side. He had the look Michael’s parents used to give him before a lecture when he was a small child.

“I summon the most powerful knights in the kingdom to my castle and, somehow, all of you end up being late.”

“Too many late knights.” Jeremy muttered from beside the throne. For a couple moments no one said anything. Then Rich burst out laughing.

“Holy shit, the guy has a sense of humor!”

Jake elbowed his side harshly. “Show some respect.”

“Give him some credit, that was pretty good.”

“Enough!” The two went silent at the king’s shout. “I’ve brought you here for a mission that holds the fate of the entire kingdom.” No pressure or anything. ”The Blue Witch has issued a statement that a curse will dry up all of our resources unless I deliver them my son.”

A heavy silence settled over the room. Rich was the one to finally break it. “Why?”

The king sighed. “They’ve had a grudge against the royal family for ages now, and now I suppose they’re finally acting against it.”

“Should you really be sacrificing your son like this?” Michael asked slowly.

“I volunteered myself for this.” Jeremy said quietly. “My _father_ didn’t want to risk me for the sake of the _entire_ kingdom.” 

The king and his son shared a look, one that was a little bit more angry on Jeremy’s side. The three knights stood there as they waited for the silent familial argument to end. The king sighed again, turning back to them. “So, yes. Your job is to escort him safely across the land to the Blue Witch.”

“Because they’re too lazy to come pick up their own luggage?” Rich got another sharp elbow to the side from Jake for that comment. 

“Try to be a little more sensitive.” Jake hissed. “The guy’s about to get delivered to his death.”

Jeremy visibly tensed up. Michael winced a bit. “Uh, Jake…”

“It’s fine.” Jeremy’s words were clipped. He pursed his lips, one hand picking at the blue cloak wrapped around his shoulders. “We leave in the morning. There’s some rooms prepared for you for tonight. Hope you guys are actually competent.”

The prince spun on his heels, drifting out of the throne room. “I’ll have to apologize for him.” The king smiled almost nervously. “He hasn’t been the same since… his mother’s death.”

“He’s never been out of the castle, right?” Rich asked. Michael internally cringed. That seemed like hell. “I’m sure he just needs some fresh air and it’ll all blow over. Even if we are delivering him to what’s probably certain death.”

Jake shot him a look. “Dude.”

“Your words, not mine, Jake.”

“I didn’t use the term _certain death_.”

“Guys.” Michael interjected. “We should probably leave the king along since he has important things to do and probably doesn’t want to hear some guys talking about how his son is going to die.”

Rich nodded slowly and Jake bit down on his lip. “Um. Yea. You’re probably right.”

The three backed out of the throne room. As soon as they were out of the king’s sight and ear shot Jake smacked Rich backside the head. “Ow!”

“You could show the royal family some respect! They don’t need some halfling making things worse for them.”

“I’m fully human!” Rich shouted in indignation. 

Jake blinked. “Really? I was sure you’re half dwarf.”

“Why does everyone think I’m half dwarf!?”

“You’re so god damn short.”

“You are pretty short.” Michael muttered. 

Rich made an odd, aggravated sound. “Screw you guys! I’m gonna go find a servant to go to my room or something! Jesus, I can’t believe I’m going to have to travel across the kingdom with you people.”

The two watched him storm away, muttering angrily under his breath. Michael honestly didn’t expect his day to go like this.

He didn’t really expect his _life_ to go like this.


	2. Chapter 2

“Water?”

“Check.”

“Provisions to at least last us to the next town?”

“Check.”

“Weapons?”

“You fucking bet we have those.”

“Prince?”

“You can stop now.” Jeremy snapped, tugging at his dark blue cloak. “Really, everything was pre-packed, you don't even need to be doing this.”

Rich gasped in mock offense. “Why, Your Highness! We're just making sure that your trip will be as comfortable as possible.”

“Stuff it.” Jeremy deadpanned. “And don't use ‘Your Highness’, that's just fucking pretentious.”

Rich leaned closer to Michael. “Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed.”

“I'm sorry, would you like me to be happy about being taken to the most feared spellcaster in the land? Can't forget how I'll ‘probably die’, right?” Rich withered under Jeremy's harsh glare.

“I, uh… Sorry?”

“Your words, not mine.” Jeremy said in a voice imitating Rich’s.

The three stood there in awkward silence, the only sound being Michael nervously fidgeting with the list in his hands. Jake jogged up to them, looking around slowly as he sensed the uncomfortable atmosphere. “Did you guys already start to hate each other in the five minutes I was gone to get a map?”

Jeremy huffed and flipped up his hood. “Let’s just go.” He mumbled, stalking over to one of the horses. 

“Rich, did you-” Jake stopped talking as Michael shot him a warning look. “...Make sure all the bags are hooked up properly?”

“Yep!” Rich said a bit too loudly. He cleared his throat. “We got anything on the agenda?”

“We’ve got to stop by an apothecary shop in town.” Jeremy said. “There’s some friends I need to talk to before we get on the road.”

“Oh.” Michael blinked. “Which one?”

“The one run by the witch coven.”

Michael jolted. “Witches? As in the thing we’re delivering you to?”

All emotion drained out of Jeremy’s face. His knuckles turned white as he gripped at the reins for the horse next to him. When it became apparent he wasn’t going to say anything, Jake spoke up. “Most witches are actually good. The ones in town actually act as advisers to the king sometimes.”

“Oh, Brooke, Jenna and Christine?” Rich grinned. “They’re really nice, but why do we need to visit them?”

Jeremy didn’t respond, merely mounting his horse and staring dead ahead at the road. Rich opened his mouth to say something but Jake nudged his shoulder.

“Let’s just go. We shouldn’t keep bothering him.”

Michael glanced around at everyone’s hunched shoulders and narrowed eyes. They didn’t exactly look like a group of people about to go on a quest. Or anyone who looked even marginally happy to be alive.

He sighed. This was going to take a long time.

* * *

The village was bustling with people and sound. Jeremy had retreated into his shell, hood flipped up and shouldered squared up to his ears. He hadn’t said a single word since they got into town, and was essentially hiding behind Jake the entire time.

“Where are we going?” Michael asked.

“Brooke, Jenna and Christine run a shop here.” Jake said, glancing at the various buildings. “I don’t know what we’re going there for because Jeremy won’t answer us….”

Jeremy made a face, switching from hiding behind Jake to hiding behind Michael. He looked positively overwhelmed. Michael had forgotten Jeremy had never left the castle before. He probably had never been around this many people at once.

Michael glanced to him, discreetly offering Jeremy a hand. Jeremy's eyes darted between the hand and Michael's face, as if he was debating whether or not he'd die if he touched him. He ended up grabbing it, squeezing Michael's hand with a death grip. Shit, he might be losing circulation to his fingers from how tight Jeremy was holding him.

“Hey, that's if right there, isn't it?” Rich called after they had walked a little further down the street. He pointed to a short little building with plants almost over running the front walls. Out front a large woman was watering a bunch of flowers.

“Yep.” Jake nodded, picking up his pace into a jog. “Jenna!”

She glanced up, brushing back a strand of long brown hair. She smirked as she saw Jake coming towards her. “Well if it isn't the hero of the realm and…” She made a quick once-over of the others. “His friends the dragonslayer and. Huh. I don't think I know you. And I know everyone.”

Michael panicked. Shit, shit, shit, he couldn't let them know he wasn't his brother. “I've uh, gone through a lot of changes lately?”

Jenna didn't seem entirely convinced, but apparently it was enough to stop asking questions. “Oh my god, is that Jeremy?!” She squealed, rushing over to him. Jeremy smiled weakly and tried to look up from the ground long enough to meet her eyes. “This is your first time out, right? Holy shit, Christine is going to be so happy to see you! Come on in!”

She opened the door, gesturing them all inside. Jeremy stopped pressing so close to Michael as he filed in after Jake and Rich. 

The inside of the shop was warm in more ways than one. Various shelves were stacked with an assortment of goods ranging from blankets to herbs. A woman with long blonde hair tied up into a bun looked away from what she was sorting on the shelves to the group of people now walking in. She shrieked, running over and hugging Jeremy. The freckles dusted across her cheeks briefly flashed with a glimmering light.

“Ahhhhh! I haven't seen you in forever!” She backed up, looking him up and down. “Jesus, it seems like you've grown so much!”

“We saw him last month, Brooke.” Jenna grinned.

“Still!”

Jeremy glanced around behind Brooke, eyes scanning for something. She pat his shoulder. “You looking for Chris?” He nodded. “She's in the back, give me a minute.” Brooke cleared her throat. “ _Christine! Jeremy's here!_ ”

Another woman came stumbling out, dropping scrolls and books on the way. “You could have told me earlier!”

“We just got here, don't worry,” Rich said. Michael was invested in the array of goods on the shelves. One of them was a jar of red plates, some sparkling and some scorched, labelled “dragon scales.” There was no way that was real, right?”

“So what brings you to our place?” Christine asked, fussing over Jeremy's cloak. He batted her hand away, but she was smiling.

“Yea, why are we here?” Rich looked pointedly to Jeremy. He shrunk back, turning to Christine. She frowned as he tapped a spot beneath his eye.

“Jeremy you said you didn't need that anymore.”

“I'm sorry, what's going on?” Michael asked. “How do you know what he's saying? And why isn't he talking, actually.”

“He does it when he gets scared.” Jenna said dismissively.

Brooke nodded. “We've known him ever since he was little. Perks of being half mythical creature and aging slowly.” She sing-songed. Her expression slipped into something more grim. “Chris is right though, you said you didn't want to go through that anymore.”

Jeremy made frantic, angry gestures at Rich, Jake and Michael. “Okay, okay! We get it. Don't use that tone of gesture with me.”

He stared at Brooke with an expression that could only be described as “really?”. She shrugged and grinned.

“Alright girls, let's go get it for him,” Christine said. She turned to the boys. “You guys stay here, we'll be back out in a couple minutes.”

The three left the way Christine entered, leaving the others to stand awkwardly in the store.

“Hey, uh…” Michael cleared his throat. “Those dragon scales aren't real, are they?”

Rich gasped and rushed over to the jar on the shelf. “Holy fuck they still have them! I thought they would have used them for some hardcore spells right off the bat.” He turned to Michael. “I got these scales for 'em. These scorched ones are from a nasty old one that lived in a lava pool. I nearly died, but it was-”

“We don't need the whole story.” Jake deadpanned, crossing his arms. Rich sent a glare his way.

“Okay, what is up with you two?” Michael snapped. “I know we haven't exactly been together all that long, but you're just going at each other's throats since the moment you saw each other!” 

“It's not my fault Jake is an uptight asshole who doesn't know how to let go of shit,” Rich said.

Jake's eyes narrowed dangerously. “Uptight? I only seem uptight to you because you're so irresponsible you got tens of people-!”

He was cut off by a loud crash. Everyone's head snapped to the direction of the sound, Rich and Jake’s hands hovering over their weapons.

Jeremy was staring at a pile of shattered glass and herbs on the floor like he was the one who broke it, hands covering his mouth. It was too far away from him, they was no way _he_ was the one who did it so…

The girls ran back in. They visibly relaxed when they saw it was just a broken jar. Christine turned to Jeremy, gently taking hold of his wrists.

“Hey, it's fine. We'll just get a new one,” She whispered

“What the hell was that?” Rich asked. Jenna looked over the scene before her.

“It's the shelves,” Jenna explained. “They're old and unsteady. Tons of shit falls off them all the time.”

Michael was highly skeptical of this statement, but he didn't exactly have anything to say it was false. It was highly possible it _was_ just the shelves.

Brooke handed Jeremy a bundle of cloth tied up with twine. “You guys stay safe out there, okay? There's a bunch of dangerous stuff out there.”

“We know,” Jake said with clipped words. “Let's go. We're gonna have to find somewhere decent to camp before sundown.”

He headed for the door, Rich storming close behind him. Jeremy flipped up his hood again, looking like he was dreading to go out into the throngs of people outside again. Michael offered his hand to him.

Jeremy didn't accept it this time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, only took me like three months to update. I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, and will stick around now that I'm picking this up again!!
> 
> My tumblr moved to squip-grandma


	3. Chapter 3

“Alright, this looks good,” Jake said. He dusted off his hands, admiring his handiwork for setting up camp.

“I could've set up the fire.” Rich grumbled, picking at his clothes.

“I'm not letting you anywhere near messing with fire.”

“That's my literal fucking job, I can handle it!”

Jeremy huffed, dropping to the ground. “I'm going to sleep if you guys are just going to argue.”

“Already?” Michael asked.

“Well, the sun just set, today has been absolutely exhausting for me, considering that this is my first time in the outside world, so I'm not exactly chomping at the bit to stay awake.” He grabbed one of the bed rolls and turned away, effectively ending the conversation. 

Jake settled down next to Jeremy, prodding the fire with a stick. Rich and Michael sat across from them. The tension in the air was palpable. Michael probably could have cut it with his dagger if he tried.

“So what's the plan?” Rich asked nonchalantly.

“The plan?” Jake frowned.

“Like. The path we're taking. I kind of want to know if we're going through monster loaded territory.” 

Jake hesitated for a moment. “I didn't really have one.”

“Jesus, Jake, and you say _I'm_ irresponsible.”

“Listen I-” Jake was cut off as Jeremy half-heartedly swatted at him.

“I'm trying to sleep here,” He mumbled. He sounded like he was half asleep already.

“Sorry.” Another minute or two of silence before anyone spoke up.

Michael cleared his throat. “How far is the Blue Witch's lair or whatever anyways?”

“Well depending on which path we take, it'll be a week or two. Maybe three.” Rich kicked at the ground in front of him. “Of course I'd have a better estimate if someone had actually gotten a plan.”

“If you're so upset by it, why don't _you_ just decide which route to take?” Jake said with a scarily level voice.

“You'd just love that, wouldn't you?”

“Guys, can we just…” Michael dragged his hands down his face. “Not? We're about to be traveling together for at least a week. The best we can do is get along.”

Jake shrugged. “If Rich actually agrees to it.”

Rich seemed to struggle for some kind of remark, and came up short. “Fine.”

The crackle of the fire was interrupted by a high pitched whine. Jeremy tossed over in his sleep, frowning and fidgeting.

“What's going on?” Rich asked.

“Rich, he's having a nightmare, don't you…” Michael faltered for a moment. “Don't you get them too?”

He shrugged. “No. Guess when real life is scarier than any nightmare you don't give a shit.”

“Charming.” Jake deadpanned as Jeremy curled in on himself, breathing picking up.

“Shouldn't we…?” Michael didn't know how to finish his sentence. What could they even do? Wake Jeremy up? He'd probably just end up being pissed at them, but…

Jake sighed. “Fine, I got this.” He ran a hand over Jeremy's hair with slow, repeating motions.

“Rather affectionate, don't you think?” Rich said in a teasing tone.

Jake's shoulders visibly tensed. “This is what my mom did for me when I had nightmares. Besides, it's not like sounds of fear and pain attract predatory animals or anything, so if you want me to stop and risk an attack because it makes you uncomfortable, please fucking tell me.”

Jeremy's fidgeting reduced to twitching, and eventually even that disappeared. Michael realized how much Jake had been acting like a month almost since the moment he met him

“So what do you think the Blue Witch wants with him?” Jake asked quietly, absentmindedly carding his fingers through Jeremy's hair.

“I dunno, they-” Rich choked on the bread in his mouth halfway through his sentence.

“Swallow before you speak, Rich.” Michael sighed in exasperation. Rich made a frustrated noise, but swallowed anyways.

“Well what do you think an insanely powerful witch wants with a prince?” Rich hummed. “Probably for some spell where you need royal blood or something.”

“Then why not just ask for like a vial of the shit?” Jake flinched as Jeremy shifted around and mumbled something in his sleep. He quickly settled back into deep slumber. “It seems like if that was the case they could make this a lot more simple.”

“Maybe Jeremy stole their dog.” Rich said.

“What?”

“I dunno man, all I’m saying is that if someone fucked with my pet I’d be out for vengeance.”

Michael sighed. “Yea, somehow I don’t think that’s it.”

“Maybe the Blue Witch has a royalty kink.” Rich suggested.

“Rich what the fuck.” Jake hissed. “This isn’t a joke.”

“Well what do you want me to say, Jeremy’s The One and the Blue Witch is sacrificing him to his lord and savior Satan?”

Michael saw Jake’s free hand tense. “Rich…”

“Fine.” Rich huffed, leaning back against the nearby tree. “Maybe the guy’s just lonely and they don’t know how to deal with it.”

“That might be close, but I don't think that's it.” Jake said.

“Maybe it's an arranged marriage and the Blue Witch is just forcing the royal family to follow through.” Michael said quietly. Rich and Jake stared at him.

“Oh my god.” Rich deadpanned. “That's way better than anything I came up with.”

“So help me God, I’m _this_ close to slapping you,” Jake hissed. He looked uncertain though, with a face like someone was poking his ribs with a dull blade. Finally, he made a growling noise and flopped over onto the ground. “I'm going to sleep. Keep fucking speculating if you want but don't wake me up.”

Rich and Michael sat in semi-awkward silence as Jake's breathing slowly evened out. The dragonslayer stared into the fire, an uncharacteristically grim look on his face. Once Jake had apparently been deemed asleep enough, Rich turned to Michael with a grin on his face. “Got any other guesses as good as that last one?”

“I…” Michael hesitated. “Rich, what happened to Jake?”

The grin slipped away. “What do you mean?”

“Well he got all edgy when he was talking about his mom. Did something…?”

Rich sighed, kicking a rock into the fire. “His parents left when he was a little kid and didn't bother to take him. As far as I know, he started doing all this knight shit to keep himself busy. He didn't exactly get a childhood.”

“Is that why he's, uh, uptight sometimes?”

He shrugged. “Maybe. Probably. It's still bullshit though.”

“Jake mentioned something about you being so irresponsible you…” Michael trailed off as Rich fixed him with an intense glare.”

“Listen, you seem like a nice guy and all, but I don't know who you fucking are, and I don't want to talk about _that_ shit in general.” Rich closed his eyes. “We've all done some fucked up stuff, me included, but that ‘stuff’ is in the past and I don't want to talk about it.” He shifted around. “What's _your_ story anyways? Can't expect me to tell you mine if I don't know yours.”

Well, fuck. “I uh, I lived with my family for most of my life. We didn't have much money so I started doing all this to support everyone.” Jesus, it felt weird to be telling his brother’s story from his perspective. “I had a little brother, and sometimes I'd teach him how to fight. Then I….” Disappeared without a trace and never came back, leaving aforementioned little brother to go on a dangerous quest so that the family honor or whatever the fuck wasn't tarnished? Michael couldn't exactly say that out loud.

Rich seemed to take his silence a different way. “Hey, you don't have to tell me anything else. You didn't have to tell me in the first place, I was just saying if you want to know a little about me, I've got to know a little about you.”

“Oh. Yea. Totally.” Michael cleared his throat. “I think I’m going to go to sleep.”

“Guess that leaves me to keep watch.” Rich kicked back.

“Hey, uh, Rich? One more thing?”

“What is it?”

“Did you and Jake know each other before this? You act like you’ve known each other for a long time.”

“...Good night, Michael.”

That was apparently the best answer he was going to get.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, two updates in two days? I must love you guys. Anyways, the plot's gonna start picking up real soon, probably. This chapter was honestly just self indulgent banter between these kids. I love them.
> 
> Catch me on tumblr as squip-grandma

**Author's Note:**

> And thus ends the first chapter! Sorry it wasn't as good as it normally is, but I just wanted to set up the concept before we get to the good stuff. I hope you guys stick around for it.
> 
> Catch me on tumblr as latenightbutterfiies ! feel free to ask questions!
> 
> Kudos are always appreciated and comments essentially make my week!


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